Chapter 28 #2
I’m a big girl who’s experienced more downs than ups in life.
I’ve been hurt before, and if it happens again, I know I’ll be able to put myself back together.
But the last thing I want is for Sam to get caught in the crosshairs if things go badly.
He didn’t sign up for that. And protecting him is my number one priority.
That leaves me with this beautiful man looking down at me expectantly.
“I’d love to see your place in BC,” I tell him honestly. “Why don’t we get through the playoffs and see where we’re at, yeah?”
He exhales slowly, his mouth turning up. “That sounds great.” He rests his forehead against mine. “I’m glad you’re here.”
A feeling close to giddiness sweeps over me. “I’m glad too.”
“Now, about your servicing…”
One moment I’m standing upright, back against the wall, then next I’m in the air. Arthur scoops me up, does a 180-degree turn and tosses me onto the bed. My squeal turns into a laugh as I try to catch my breath.
He doesn’t come closer, just stands at the edge of the bed watching me. His eyes travel from my face, over my torso, and all the way down to my bare toes. Part of me thinks he’s taking me in, committing what he’s seeing to memory.
And part of me thinks he’s trying to decide where he wants to start.
I decide to get things moving on my own. Reaching for the top button of my jeans, I undo them, then slide the zipper down. Next I slip my thumbs between the denim fabric and my waist and inch by inch, slowly push them over my hips.
I’m pleased I had the foresight to wear one of my nicer pairs of underwear this morning. Although, when I selected them from my drawer, it was less that I was expecting to get laid and more that I thought I might die, and if I was going to die, I would like to go out in nice panties.
Arthur’s eyes track my every movement. I slide the jeans down my legs and toss them into the corner without ceremony. Then, I slip the heavy robe off my shoulders and lie back on the bed in only my white tank top and panties.
“Warm?” he asks, gaze locked on my legs on top of the comforter.
“Mmm. Must be that Florida sun.” I let my hand skim up my leg and over my hips, all lazy confidence, even though I’m quietly freezing my ass off in this aggressively air-conditioned room. Goose bumps prickle along my skin, but I resist the urge to cover up.
I push my tank top up inch by inch, fingers gliding over my stomach, pretending the shiver has nothing to do with the arctic blast pouring out of the vents. You are absolutely not cold, I tell myself. You are warm. “You look like you might be overheating yourself, Coach.”
His eyes, always that deep almost black brown, appear even darker than usual. He takes a small step closer, until his legs are touching the mattress. He shrugs out of his suit jacket and tosses it in the same corner as my discarded jeans.
I wait for him to continue, but he doesn’t. Instead, he puts his hands into his pockets and continues to look at me with barely contained amusement.
I prop myself up on my elbows. “Something funny?”
He runs a hand over his sculpted jaw. “It’s just, for someone who’s so warm…” He pauses and stares pointedly at my bare legs. “You certainly have a lot of goose bumps.”
“No, I don’t.”
“No?”
I shake my head. “Maybe a few. You know goose bumps are a sign of arousal.”
He grins. “You don’t say? Is shivering a sign of that too?”
“Of course. You’ve never heard of trembling with desire.”
“Fair enough. Why are your teeth chattering?”
I press my lips together for a long moment before answering. “Lust?”
He barks out a laugh and now I feel ridiculous. I start to pull the robe back on.
“Elliot.” He puts his hands on my feet and laughs harder. “Jesus. Your feet are like ice.”
I kick his hands away, but he grabs my ankles and pulls me farther down the bed toward him. “Admit that you’re cold.”
I squirm in vain. He’s got my ankles pinned to the bed. I give up and flop back on the mattress. “Fine. I’m freezing. I’m not used to these over air-conditioned rooms and I couldn’t figure out how to work the thermostat. Are you happy?”
“Yes.” He leans further over the bed. “Now, ask me to warm you up.”
I chew on my lip. Just thinking about his warm hands, his warm everything on my cool skin is enough to make me cave. “Please warm me up.”
He smiles, almost boyishly. “Gladly.”
And then his big body is covering mine. My skin soaks up his heat through his clothes. It’s hard to feel petulant when the broody man is smiling down at me.
“I was trying to be sexy,” I pout.
His thumb traces my lower lip, slowly. “You never have to try to be sexy, Elliot. You’re the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”
I roll my eyes, but he makes me look at him.
“I’m serious. You melt my goddamn brain just by walking into a room. Just by existing. It’s torture.”
“Wow.”
He grins. “Yeah. ‘Wow.’ Now, be a good girl and torture me some more.”
My body trembles as his warm hands map over me, but this time not from the cold. His touch is a million things at once. Firm, tender, fast, slow, just shy of bruising. I squirm underneath him, wanting more. Wanting it everywhere, all at once. I want to be branded by it.
He kisses my neck, his teeth grazing a sensitive spot and I whimper.
I feel him smile against my skin. “That spot.” He strokes the spot in question with his tongue and grins as my body responds. “That’s one of my favourite spots. You make the most entertaining noises when I kiss you there.”
“I’m so happy you find me amusing.” I attempt to push him off me but the firm wall of muscle stays put. “But hey. At least you picked a favourite.” I push at him again.
“What are you doing?” he asks, peering down at me curiously.
I huff out an exhausted laugh. “Trying, in vain, to gain some higher ground.”
He raises one eyebrow. “Why didn’t you just say so?” In one smooth movement, Arthur rolls onto his back, taking me with him. I find myself straddling his waist.
I place my hands on his chest for balance. “Wow. Two flights in one day.” His hands stroke my thighs before settling on my ass. He looks up at me with such appreciation, such reverence, I can’t help but feel self conscious. Unworthy. “Enjoying the view?” I try to keep my tone light and unaffected.
“I am.” His voice is low and unhurried. “But to be honest, I had another one in mind.”
“Oh?”
“Mm-hmm.” His fingers toy with the waistband of my pink panties. “Why don’t you slip these off and move yourself up a little higher.”
I still. Is he asking me to do what I think he is? I do as I’m asked, managing to awkwardly maneuver out of my underwear and position myself higher on his abdomen.
“Higher.”
I move up more until I’m struggling to straddle his impossibly broad chest. I feel exposed but exhilarated.
“Almost there, Elliot. Higher.”
I freeze. “I don’t…it’s just I’ve never done that…that way before.”
He strokes my hipbone, his touch light and reassuring. “And I’ve never wanted to do it more in my life. So it’ll be a first for both of us.” He pauses. “If you want it to be.”
I’m nodding, already moving higher. His hands cup my ass as he guides me the rest of the way to his mouth.
The first stroke of his tongue makes my back arch and my thighs shake. I press my hands to the headboard of the bed, trying to support my weight on it so I don’t smother him.
But he only pulls me down harder against him, groaning against me as he tastes me hungrily. I give up any form of resistance, as he alternates long licks with light kisses. My head drops back and I moan as pleasure travels through every vein.
“You’re using your indoor voice, Elliot.” He tsks. “I want to hear you.” Then his lips fasten around my clit and he sucks.
“Ohhhhmygoddd.” I barely recognize my own voice as I moan nonsensical words.
Arthur palms my ass, groaning his approval.
It’s intoxicating and new and so, so good.
Not just the pleasure he’s giving me in droves.
The way he wants me. The way he wants to please me.
I’ve never experienced anything like it.
The pressure builds faster. Too fast. And then I’m crying out, my thighs clamping around his face. He doesn’t stop, doesn’t even slow down as I fall apart on top of him. I feel myself go limp as I let him lift me off him and lay me down on the bed.
The cool sheets against my skin make me shiver, and his laugh rumbles low and warm beside me.
“How could you possibly still be cold?”
He props himself up and slips an arm around my waist, drawing me in until my back fits perfectly against his chest. The heat of him seeps into my bone marrow. I’m struck by the quiet realization that this isn’t just comfort; it’s care. He makes me feel chosen. Seen. And I want more firsts with him.
“Well, unlike you, I’m not fully clothed.
” My speech is slowed, almost slurred. Even in this dazed state, I still want more.
My hands get to work, unbuttoning his shirt and pants with impressive dexterity.
He lifts his hips as I slide off his pants, taking them from me when I’ve removed them.
He grabs a condom from the pocket before throwing them to the floor.
He puts it on and I lie back, eagerly awaiting.
It takes him a moment to climb on top of me. As incredible a specimen that Arthur Stetson is, there are limitations on how his leg bends. After a minute though, he’s settled between my legs, his strong forearms braced on either side of my head.
“Fuck.” He sighs as he sinks into me. My nails dig into his shoulders as I adjust to the sheer size of him. “I thought about this the entire fucking flight.”
“I should have too,” I gasp, already lightheaded as I lift my hips to take him deeper. “That would have been much better than worrying about dying.”
“I can’t bear the thought of that.” He lifts up and lowers down. We both moan. “I can’t think about a world that you’re not in.”
Before I can even process his words, he sets a faster pace that doesn’t allow me to think at all. I can only feel. Him. All of him. He keeps one arm propped by my head while the other finds my hip, holding me as he fills me again and again.
My thighs shake, barely able to stay open for him. It’s almost more than I can take.
“Yes, you can, Elliot,” he says in my ear, like he can hear every thought in my goddamn mind. Like we’re so connected I don’t even have to speak. “You’re doing so well. You take me so perfectly. You’re almost there.”
His praise gives me new life. My heels dig into the mattress, my hips lifting in perfect time with him. I feel my orgasm building and then it’s crashing all around me. Heaven.
“God, yes. That’s my girl.” Arthur pumps again and then stills, as he climaxes with me. He collapses on top of me knocking the last of the air from my lungs. I let out a breathy laugh that immediately turns into a pathetic little wheeze. He is already rolling off me, eyes wide with concern.
“Oh god. Sorry. Are you okay?”
I nod, still laughing as I drag in a deep breath, my hand finding his arm to pull him back to me.
The fact that he notices so fast, that his instinct is to move, to check, to make sure I am fine, makes my pounding heart flutter.
It is ridiculous how something so small can feel so big.
I should be focused on catching my breath, not on the way he makes me feel looked after, but I am.
“Sorry,” he says quickly. “I didn’t mean to crush you.”
I shove my damp hair off my forehead, chest still rising and falling. “There are worse ways to go,” I manage. “Better than a plane crash.”
“Quit it with the death jokes,” he mutters. He reaches for my discarded robe and pulls it over us like a makeshift blanket, tucking it around our bare shoulders.
“Yes, Coach,” I say, already drowsy, curling closer and fitting myself against his side like I belong there.
He sighs, long and soft, and I feel the vibration before he presses a kiss to my forehead. I can hear the smile in his voice when he murmurs, “Get some rest.”